Savannah’s/Dublin Underground owners indicted for assault

3/8 update: The comments have been turned off for this post because the discussion has deteriorated into back-and-forth bickering and name-calling among the same few people, all of whom have some stake in the case or allegiance to those involved. No other comments will be allowed on this case, on any post on the blog, until there are new developments.

Extensively updated throughout.

A violent encounter between staff members of a downtown Albany bar and a group of patrons early on New Year’s Day led to three arrests and one victim with injuries including a fractured eye socket.

Joseph Schaefer and Peter Cusato, co-owners of Savannah’s, a tavern located at 1 South Pearl St., were arraigned Monday for what authorities allege was a savage attack on a man at their establishment. (The business is commonly known as The Dublin Underground but has never officially changed its name from Savannah’s.)

The indictment against the defendants said they wrestled the victim, Aaron Jevons of Rensselaer, to the floor and ‘‘repeatedly punched him in the face, kicked him in the head, causing substantial pain, bruising, swelling, bleeding’’ and Jevons to “suffer a broken finger and to have a metal plate in his head and also to sustain a tripod fracture to the skull.”

Schaefer and Cusato were released on $10,000 bail after their arraignment, according to Heather Orth, spokeswoman for Albany County District Attorney David Soares.

The defendants’ attorney, James D. Linnan, called the indictment a “gross, one-sided mischaracterization” of the incident. He said Jevons and a group of friends were verbally abusive to Savannah’s staff and became physically combative after being asked to leave at approximately 4 a.m. on New Year’s Day.

When Schaefer, Cusato and the Savannah’s doorman, Steve Dellavolpe, attempted to remove the group from the bar, one of Jevons’ friends, Christopher Raiford, punched Dellavolpe in the face, lacerating Dellavolpe’s nose and causing him to hit his head on a barstool when he fell, according to a police report.

The report said a fight among several people ensued, and the glass front door of Savannah’s was smashed. Raiford, a 19-year-old Connecticut resident, was arrested nearby minutes later and charged with assault and criminal mischief, said Albany police spokesman James Miller. The case is pending, said Orth, the district attorney’s spokeswoman.

Linnan, the defense attorney, said Schaefer and Cusato restrained Jevons, who was behaving violently, until police arrived. He said they did not punch or kick him in the head, as alleged by the indictment. The injury sustained by Jevons, broken bones around the eye socket, also called an orbital fracture, is a common injury among boxers, baseball players hit by a ball and people involved in bar fights, Linnan said. He speculated the injury came when Jevons and Raiford were fighting with bar staff. Further, Linnan said, what the indictment characterized as a “metal plate” in Jevons’ head is “a little orthopedic piece.”

No police report on the alleged assault on Jevons and his injuries was taken the night of the incident, said Miller. The report that led to the indictment is dated Jan. 10. Miller said he believed Jevons was hospitalized for part of the period between Jan. 1 and 10. It is not uncommon for a number of days to pass between an incident occurring and a report being taken, Miller said.

Multiple Savannah’s employees witnessed the incident and would have refuted Jevons’ version of events for the grand jury, but they were not called to testify, Linnan said.

“Two bartenders, two assistant managers, a doorman, a kitchen guy, two owners and a disk jockey were all in the bar, and none of them saw any of what (Jevons) claims happened. The grand jury did not hear any of that,” he said.

Orth declined to discuss specific witnesses available to the grand jury in this case.

Linnan also alleged that police and prosecutors worked to portray Schaefer and Cusato as out-of-control thugs and Jevons as an innocent victim as a favor to Jevons’ uncle, who Linnan said is a high-ranking former State Police official. The Times Union is withholding his name because the relationship could not immediately be verified. Miller and Orth denied any outside influence on their departments in this case.

Schaefer and Cusato face a maximum of seven years in state prison if convicted of second-degree assault, a felony.

Jevons did not reply to a request for comment. In a note posted Tuesday morning on his Google profile, which was later taken down, Jevons linked to the original Times Union story about the case and wrote, “Gotta love the justice system when it works.”

According to Jevons’ Facebook page, he graduated from Rensselaer high school and RPI and is now a 25-year-old mechanical engineer with the Latham office of a global engineering firm. The x-ray at right is of Jevons’ skull and was taken Jan. 4, according to details on the image, which was on Facebook earlier today but has since been removed.

I dont know all the facts but know noone deserves to be beating like this kid did! Fred and others obviously beleive because they know these 2 thugs or met them once or saw them do chariety means they can beat people down! They have to follow the rules too! ‘IF’ someone gets out of control, hold them till cops come! You know cops are nearby, Dont beat him and beat him while he’s down! And according to fred because it was jan. 4th on the xray that he wasnt seriously injured or almost died? HE HAD A SKULL FRACTURE! wow

#74… Danielle is clearly a highly informed, well educated, level-headed individual that knows everyone involved and is permitted to negatively characterize people, including ones that have nothing to do with the situation. Maybe Danielle is on charlie sheen too? One begs to ask…..

@ fred – Oh so you were there and saw him attack the bouncers? obviously after 2 months investigation the albany detectives didnt see it that way!! Just because your a local drunk at savanahs doesnt mean you know all the facts!

@JMH I’ve known aaron for a long time, the bar owners’ story does not line up to the way aaron would act even being drunk on new year’s eve. they clearly had a problem with the other guy and attacked aaron due to association. anyway we’ll find out more once it goes to trial, but it’s hard to imagine the police and prosecutors would pursue a case after two months have passed if they do not feel they have sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction. not every bar fight is prosecuted.

“Two bartenders, two assistant managers, a doorman, a kitchen guy, two owners and a disk jockey were all in the bar, and none of them saw any of what (Jevons) claims happened. The grand jury did not hear any of that,” [Linnan] said.

Yeah of course they’re going to watch the back of their boss and friend, if they said they saw anything different they’d be out of a job in no time.

All I’m saying is the way the story is written leads to them being guilty pieces of filth. Who cares what College degree the kid has, it doesn’t make him any better of a person. Ted Bundy had a Bachelor’s in psychology University of Washington… just get all the facts before you judge.

@gary – don’t know why you’re attacking the author of the post, all he’s doing is reporting that an indictment took place and was giving what information was available about the indictment. That’s why he quoted the indictment itself and used words like “prosecutors allege”. Indictments, by nature, are going to say incriminating things about the alleged criminal. If they truly are innocent the case will be tossed out or a not guilty plea will ensue. More likely an outcome is a guilty plea involving probation or a very short jail stint.

The victim has a METAL PLATE in his head! Does anyone deserve that? This young man was nearly beaten to death and all some readers on the blog seems to care about is whether the article was fair! Stop defending these bar owners.

Finally this story has more details than before. Took a little public outcry for TU to add more facts.
Now some facts show this kid wasn’t alone and he and his friends started something. The result, chaos. Now there’s a police report showing the bar calling the police. The extent of the injuries were not as bad as before. I also think it was unfair to push this kid as a victim to the public because of some cop family.
Being somewhat involved with the bar scene, I can easily picture what happened. Nothing elaborate but it happend. When you’re drunk you become Napoleon or Fitty Cent and think you are the next MMA Champ.
I will be at Savannah’s having a drink later.
It comes down to he said she said and the jury will find them innocent.

Why do you all keep insisting upon calling a 25 years of age, college educated, mechanical engineer, gainfully employed man, “A KID????”

This leads us to believe he is some naive, boy-child.

My gainfully employed, college-educated sons would be highly offended if you called them “kids.” They ceased to be “kids” the day they left home and went out into the world on their own.

And, as someone said in an earlier post, not only are there 2 sides to every story, we still live in a country where one is innocent until proven guilty.

And, yes, this is a “blog” and not covered by the loose edicts of the TU’s journalism ethics, or lack thereof, and yes, Steve Barnes certainly has a right to his prejudices against pub/bar/restaurant owners given his history, however, people, let’s pull back and wait until all of the parties have had a chance to weigh in and let all of the facts speak for themselves.

first of all poster 21 is correct , pearl street is not what it was or what it was meant to be! Now ive been in savannahs many times, and Ive never witnessed any such violence, and Ive dealt with the owners and such and for the most part they have seemed to be very decent people( except for the confederate flag up behind the bar) Savannahs was allways the ONE decent place that remained on pearl street where you could get away from the very thing that is now being alleged. and that is the problem, you cant get away from that anymore in downtown Albany. There is a permissive climate of violence. a climate where such actions are par for the course, expected and accepted and until serious action is taken to change it, stories like this will remain all too commonplace!

@HAHA
I’m not going to bother explaining my connection to this, I’m simply saying there’s much more here than what’s being reported by this crappy newspaper. Not only is there more to this story, what they’ve reported isn’t even accurate. I just would have thought the paper would do a little more homework before throwing this kind of tripe out there that will make everyone think poorly of these guys. Before this article came out, if it were about someone I didn’t know, I probably would have believed it as well. I now see how dangerous it can be to believe whatever you read.

Just because you know them doesn’t make them innocent! And how is beating on someone when they are on the ground self defense? 2 month investigation people! obviously there’s a reason there are charges against these 2 rather then the victim! Think for once

@darknight: the force is clearly disproportional to any bar patron removal scenario, period. anything apparently that serious should have been handled by police, not thug bouncers and owners on power trips.

Mr. Grammar, I believe the “one-sided, biased story” comments were aimed at the hours the story remained a.. well… one-sided biased story lol… It has just been recently updated to reflect a little more to the story, as we all knew there was. This KID, and yes, Bairbre, were saying KID because adults don’t attack employees of an establishment when they are asked to leave, then file charges because our pride is hurt and we didn’t get our way. Adults who attack a bouncer or employees of a bar should reasonably expect their opponent, whether a bar owner, a bouncer or a Jimmy Public on the street, to defend themselves. It seems that the whole story is slowly coming together, and I’m sure when the whole situation is out, you will understand why I, and many others will attest to what great people Joe and Pete are.

This story was reported as soon as the information became available to us.

The initial story in today’s paper was based on the account provided by the district attorney’s office. That account contained no details about what preceded the assault described by the indictment. Further, the DA did not offer any connection between the Jan. 1 arrest of Christopher Raiford and the case against Schaefer and Cusato. That link became clear after APD spokesman Miller went through Jan. 1 arrest reports at my request and found the information about Raiford.

The defendants did not respond to requests for comment yesterday. When I reached them this morning, they deferred comment to their attorney, who is vacationing in the Caribbean. Once I reached him, I included the defendants’ side of the story.

I report only what I’m told, on the record, by people involved in the case, including primary parties, attorneys and police and DA representatives. If any of the many people above who claim to know what “really” happened are willing to be interviewed with their names attached, please get in touch with me. Otherwise you’re just throwing stones and anonymous accusations.

Darknight: Very well put. Steve, your update to the story sheds much needed light on the events. Maybe these “kids” should save themselves the embarassment of more details coming to light and realize that their State Police relatives can’t protect what will come out in a trial.

There sure are a lot of people running their mouths on this blog. I do happen to think there are quite a few, very important details missing from this story, with no offense intended to the author. I guess only time and evidence will tell what really happened, but I must have just missed this incident- I think I left about 10 minutes prior to its’ occurrence.

@Steve Barnes
I understand your perspective on reporting what you have, but was it that important to get the story out first thing this morning before you were able to have any contact with the attorney for the defendants? My issue is that before all of these new details were available, these two guys had their names dragged through the mud and most people probably read the article this morning and have a preconceived notion about them. That isn’t fair to the defendants, nor to anyone interested in this story.

We received information from law enforcement, as happens multiple times daily, and we reported it. The original reporter, Rob Gavin, made multiple attempts to reach Cusato and/or Schaefer, but they did not reply. What were we supposed to do — hold off reporting anything at all, on the off chance they might choose to speak?

It is standard practice to report crime and court news that is given to us by authorities before we have gotten a response from the accused. There were a number of other arrests reported in today’s paper and online, including one for that ultimate mud-dragger, kiddie porn. But, curiously, I don’t hear anybody decrying us for not trying to get all of those defandants’ sides of the story before reporting the news.

I don’t know where to begin. There has been an update on this story and SOME people need to know the real story before opening up their mouths. There are two owners, that are nothing but kind to everyone that walks into that bar and would go out of their way to help anyone. All the negative people that are talking down on Joe and Pete have never meet them because if you did, nobody would be saying any of these negative comments. Joe and Pete is both family man who have new born babies and every time I go there, they are showing me new pictures of their children. They also run a successful bar that promote all over Albany and take care of their business and never break the law. You will never go to this bar with anyone that works for them being rude or unfriendly to you. Have you ever seen them get in trouble before? Or hear any fights outside the bar on the news? Or underage people at this bar? Dublin Underground is a safe environment and that is due Joe and Pete. These are questions that you have to think about before jumping the gun and say horrible things about Joe, Pete and Dublin underground bar. Joe and Pete are amazing people, caring to others and will do anything for his family and friends. I am PROUD to say that Joe is a part of my family and Pete makes me feel like I’m apart of his.

@ Andrew Badera- I’m not going to engage in a debate with you as to the character of the bouncer or co-owners of Savannahs. Again, if you have EVER had even the smallest amount of interaction with these guys, it would be clearly evident that they are every bit the outgoing, helpful, courteous, respectable guys that many people have concurred they are. You’re aiming baseless insults at people you obviously don’t know in any way, shape, or form.

Steve Barnes, I understand you were reporting what you so far had, however I agree with Fred, until you had more information, you very unfairly characterized Joe and Pete as committing some wrongdoing, and by doing so you most likely caused others to believe so as well. It would have been more prudent to wait until after you spoke with APD, the DA’s office, attorneys etc… and then reported the story, which is now changing people’s opinion. I understand you may have a bad taste in your mouth for bar owners, but it is grossly unfair to assault Joe and Pete’s character like that.

@114, you obviously have no idea about my relationships with bar and restaurant owners, so don’t presume to impute motives to me. There is one Tim Rankins. But there are scores if not hundreds of other owners, managers, chefs, servers and bartenders with whom I am on cordial or even very friendly terms.

Among them: Joe Schaefer and Pete Cusato. Indeed, it’s exactly because they are comfortable with me that they were willing to discuss this with me and not Rob Gavin, and it’s because their attorney trusts and respects me as a journalist that he was willing to call me from his Caribbean vacation.

Finally, neither I as a reporter nor the Times Union as an institution assaulted anyone’s character. They were involved in an altercation that the police, district attorney and citizens on a grand jury believed warranted prosecution. We published details of a criminal proceeding. That’s reporting the news, not character assault.

Regardless of my personal opinion of the bar owners, and as someone who has dealt with this professionally, this is a sad excuse for a law suit. I have been in Savannah’s on many occasions, even late night. I have NEVER seen an abuse of power, I have NEVER seen people treated unfairly, and I have been there prior to the expansion when it was wall to wall with people. I find the allegation most interesting considering the long tenure that the current ownership has had there and the lack of any similar issues. I have been in and around the bar business for nearly 10 years and it is not an easy one. I’m sure that if you ask the accused that they would tell you that they are sorry that the accuser was hurt, however getting injured is unfortunately a bi-product of inciting a bar fight. With the new details added to this post and the main article, I would hope that all parties involve put this to bed sooner than later. It is unfortunate that the story was reported prior to the full story being released (although understanding the media business it is sometimes difficult to report accurately and timely). However with all the facts now available, let’s hope that the authorities look into this case for what it is, a 4 a.m. fight after a night where the accuser was drinking that got out of hand, but was handled at the time as appropriately as a 4 a.m. bar fight could possibly be handled and is now a non-issue.

Thank you Mr. Barnes for the update. I couln’t agree with your comment more when you tell the people above who claim to know what “really” happend, come forward and be interviewed. I Also liked your last sentence, otherwise you’re just throwing stones and anonymnous accusations.

Buzz to the rescue! Hopefully for them he’ll get an actual criminal lawyer involved. Unless they think his oft-trumpeted “close personal relationship” with the Mayor means something–which it sure won’t here.

Maybe they are innocent men wrongly accused. Maybe thugs who don’t like college kids. Maybe they were drinking too and got out of control. Maybe it was just a fair bar fight.

settle down Steve, I respect that some people value your opinion, and if there are scores if not hundreds of other owners, managers, chefs, servers and bartenders with whom you are on cordial or even very friendly terms with , among them Joe Schaefer and Pete Cusato, then show them the same respect they clearly are comfortable showing you, and wait until you have all the facts.

Fred, Are you advocating the press should ignore crime reporting prior to receiving a statement from defense attorneys? You can’t be serious? If that was the case we would have yet to hear about the Arizona shootings.

And on the flip side of the coin. Any attorney that would discuss their clients case with the press at this point should be fired. If not you can pretty much guarantee you’ll be spending your afternoons playing handball in Comstock’s yard for some time.

This headline is gross and misleading. Even I was stunned by Joe’s behavior until I read the details. How many bloggers here have read and comprehended the account of what happened?? If a group of bar patrons become unruly, abusive, and violent, attacking a doorman, and the owners step in to get the losers under control, is that assault??? Uh, no. Unreasonable force? Possibly. But assault, no.

Of course with our bizarre court system in Albany, who knows how this could turn out.

It is glaringly obvious that no one slinging accusations or involving themselves in the character attacks posted here has had any previous interactions with either Mr. Schaefer or Mr. Cusato. Having hosted a handful of charity events at Savannah’s, it has been my pleasure to get to know them both. They are nothing short of gentlemen. I cannot imagine any situation where either would engage in such unnecessary roughness. I’m confident that if there was a problem it was dealt with accordingly.

I feel bad for the person(s)who are involved in this. But as someone who has done their share of drinking, alcohol and 4am do not mix. Nothing good happens after 1PM with drinking and bars nonetheless 4PM. I think its time to go to a 2PM shutdown. John.

Joe and Pete are great guys and its good to see more of the story getting published. The internet makes it easy to instantly pass judgment and forget that these are real people, with families, who run a great Albany establishment.

To naively state that “because there is a $10,000 bail on both these guys” it must therefore draw the conclusion that the police have a case is simply ridiculous. The fact that it is only $10,000 bail would perhaps indicate the exact opposite if I thought for a minute the price tag on an offence carried any weight to the validity of the charges.

Equally as interesting, is how, given the supposed brutality of the assault on Mr. Aaron Jevons, the only other injury he sustained was a broken finger, these guys must be extremely accurate with their feet while beating a guy in a state of blind rage. Because let’s face it, if the beating we are talking about in the blog and the TU article was to be believed then we are talking about a testosterone and adrenaline surge that had to be off the charts.

And please people, at no point in this blog, or in the times union article did it state that Mr. Jevons was “almost beaten to death”
I am highly confused as to why a college education removes any question of drunken thuggery from the shoulders of Jevon and his friends. If this were true then every College Grad charged with an alcohol or violence related crime but have been wrongly accused, anyone set foot in a college party recently, no binge drinking or fights happening there…no sir

In all honesty, I have a hard time developing a well rounded opinion on what happened here, when the only news available is coming from the Times Union, a paper who’s hardest hitting journalistic prowess comes from its voluminous classified section.

Use a little common sense here folks, let’s not vilify the accused or the establishment, which I might remind you all, has a significant staff who rely on their jobs to live, before all the facts are out in the open. Given that no press has been given to Mr. Schaefer or Mr. Cusato to plead their side of the story, I would hazard a guess that the story is far from full.

What I’m suggesting, RobertR, is that until a story like his affects someone with whom you’re close, you can’t understand how damaging reporting one side of the story can be to people that are of as high character as Pete and Joe. So to answer your question, yes, I’d suggest allowing the defense to combat any allegations.

Can I see a show of hands from anyone who thinks that 7 staff members and 2 bar owners wanted a problem at 4am on what is probably the busiest bar night of the year? It seems pretty obvious that there was an issue with the “victim” and his behavior. I have been to Savannahs countless Saturday nights and have never seen a fight. Come to think of it, I have never even heard of a fight there. I don’t believe that this “victim” was innocent for a second. Read the facts and put them together. If he hurt himself it was probably self-inflicted one way or another.

I’ll have to see how this plays out. I met Joe once, and he was very, very kind to me- not saying this incident didn’t happen, but based on my first impression, I’m surprised if he did this without good reason. I’ll have to wait for more info before passing any judgment.

Just when you thought the justice system protected law-abiding citizens, a sensationalized story like this is printed in a newspaper.

I’ll start by saying that the initial story that ran in today’s newspaper was an excellent example of how reporters can sway a reader’s opinion with use of a single word. It’s obvious that the Times Union is a vehicle driven by the Albany DA so the word ‘savage’ was appropriate in his mission to find the defendants guilty of their charges.

More importantly, I want the public to remember that innocence until proven guilt is an inalienable right for all American citizens. So let’s hold our judgement until a jury of our peers has found guilt or innocence.

Last but not least, I have the honor of calling Joe and Peter both dear, personal friends. Their moral character leaves no room for opinion – they are respected businessmen in our community besides the fact that they are both loving husbands and fantastic dads. They have NO criminal record – unlike the plaintiff.

Any misconduct on the morning on January 1 was certainly in defense of their staff, their business and their night’s earnings in the cash register.

Please don’t take my word for it. Stop down to Savanna’s for lunch during the week or a cold beverage after work and you will meet two people who love their job and who strive for excellence in everything they do. Talk with them and I know you will agree that they are gentlemen in every sense of the word.

I don’t know Aaron so I won’t pass judgement on his claims, but I do know that Pete and Joe are not capable of the kind of ‘beating’ that supposedly took place.

I hope all involved parties find peace and Pete and Joe are able to continue doing what they love – serving Albany’s population with excellent food and the most taps on Pearl Street!

Really? Really? You have got to be kidding me that I have wasted my time to read the majority of 123 posts from residents of the Capital District who believe EVERY WORD of what is printed in a news story before getting the full story. Are you all naive enough to believe that ALL of the facts in this case were printed in The Times Union? Are we to believe that someone who was out at a bar until 4am on New Year’s Eve had his “halo and wings” on while having another double jack and coke?

Yes, I know the staff at Savannah’s. Yes, I frequent the establishment. And yes, I have been drunk at the bar. But there is one HUGE difference between the majority of people who frequent bars and these “gentlemen”. THEY made their choice on how they would ring in 2011. THEY refused to leave and as my mother has told me time and time again, “There are consequences for every choice you make”.

Therefore, I can only imagine what must have ensued when these “gentlemen” were asked to leave the bar at 4am. Because, undisuptedly, those “gentlemen” attacked the door guy and caused injury. Those “gentlemen” broke the front glass door of the bar. Those “gentlemen” could have walked away and THEY didn’t.

The entire situation stinks. Just imagine if these “gentlemen” had been responsible enough to heed the direction of the bar staff at 4am. That the night was over and that they would have to continue their celebration elsewhere. IMAGINE…if they had been responsible enough to leave the bar as they had come into it. IMAGINE…because two (2) stand-up guys would not have to deal with such an outrageous claim and one (1) GENTLEMEN would not be injured.

To the people who are “scared” about going to the bar now that you “know” about Joe and Pete…DON’T BOTHER! Savannah’s is a diamond in the ruff! If you choose to avoid an establisment for a “questionable” incident then clearly you haven’t left your house in a long time. Smarten up people!!

But if you so choose to enjoy a night on the town with great music, great staff and some great drinks, I will see you at Savannah’s! Hell, maybe I’ll even buy you a tall double jack and coke!!!

Just to be clear, the information we received came directly from an indictment in Albany County Court. We are not alleging anything – we reported on a case as we do all the time.

In this case, the indictment accused two men of assaulting a man to the extent that he received a metal plate in his skull and broke a bone in his finger. I think most people would agree such allegations are a matter of public interest. It is not unusual for newspapers to report allegations in an indictment before a lawyer is reached.

In this case, I personally called the establishment for a reaction; no one returned the phone calls.

Rob Gavin, Its unfortunate that calling a popular pub/restaurant during peak hours left you with no response, but that still doesn’t give the TU the right to misrepresent the facts, you couldn’t reach the defendants or alleged victim, so you reported what you had from the DA’s office. Sooo were the albany police unavailable for comment as well? As I heard it, TU was in contact with APD about this story shortly AFTER the story was published… Come on guys….. TU and fair reporting?? No way

Tough read. Let’s start with what night this happened on. New Years Eve. One of the top “amateur nights” for the drinking community. EVERYONE thinks they can drink that night, and tries their best to be a cool/tough guy.

This “incident” happened at 4am. Should we believe the owners decided to beat this guy, and his friends (where were they?) for no reason? They were probbaly trying to close, and when he asked to leave, he refused and probably got mouthy to involke any sort of physical reaction from, I’m guessing, a wore out staff that finally finished a night that most bar owners dread.

Most of these “assaults” are just good old fashioned fights, where the LOSER gets the opportunity to sue for “battery?” The WINNER of the fight usually gets the opportunity to hire a lawyer and explain why he had the audacity to defend himself, and actually win the fight the other guy started!?

Lesson learned: Even if you win a fight, you lose. Especially if the kid you beat up has connections with the state police. The MISTAKE the owners made was winning too badly. Just win, and get it over with. The “pummeling” part is what could get you a bit in county.

Wow a lot of these people here on this blog seem to spend a lot time at bars…
with that said I don’t think you can explain away these injuries by simply saying these guys asked for it and the owners were simply protecting their property. Hey this guy’s got a freakin plate in head. Give me a break why couldn’t the owners simply called the police..and didn’t I read somewhere one is a trained fighter who was once a body guard.

GOOSE: Wow, you’ve been waiting 3 months to find a bar that had an incident that wasn’t “Hip Hop” related..good for you, you finally found one. I stand totally by my December comments that the vast majority of assukts, rapes, etc in bars occur when the “hip Hop” element starts to patronize a joint.
This Savannahs incident was probably a gross over reaction to a very unruly patron at the end of a very long and profitable evening. It is a shame that this guy got injured in the fracas, but if you want to play you’re gonna pay.
I have know the Custo guy for many years, as a gentleman. He would probably not know my name because i know him as a patron of the grocery store that his parents had on Lark and then that he and his Brothers had on Quail. He is a gentleman. I frequent Savannahs during my lunch hour, as I work downtown. It is a class establishment.
I have also know Steve Barnes for many years. I have been involved in numerous restaurants in Albany for a number of years, I can attest to the fact that he is very friendly with scores of people in the business. His fairness is unquestioned.

WHY has no one even questioned WHAT ELSE this guy could have been on that night?? Besides being apparently intoxicated- drinking for at least 4 hours (since midnight), but probably since 6pm or so, I’m sure he and his friends were wasted. As a worker in the industry (no not for Savannah’s), I had the “pleasure” of dealing with the NYE drunks- and witnessing the fights on the streets of Saratoga that night. Removing a drunk is difficult enough- you try to be polite, but they don’t just say “ok, I think I’ll go home now” and walk out the door. BUT IF, just saying IF, it happens the patrons were influenced by something in addition to alcohol, it sheds light on their behavior and what was needed to remove them. And yes, WHY was the x-ray not done until the 4th??? I would just lay around in such extruciating pain for 4 days until seeing a doctor!!! Hmmmm???!!! Doesn’t make me suspect a cover up at all (cough, cough…. relative of a cop)!!

Anyone comparing Savannah’s to the other crap holes on Pearl Street hasn’t been out in a while. Savannah’s is the ONLY respectable establishment in downtown Albany. It can’t and shouldn’t be compared to the ridiculousness that occurs on North Pearl Street. I went for a micro brew after work and sat next to the MAYOR this afternoon. If that’s not his way of showing support- don’t know what is.

In my day, if you entered an establishment drunk and started sh*t, you took the consequences like a man. Dusting yourself off after a bar fight was a common occurrence. Damn kids these days think they can get belligerent and throw punches without repercussion. Man up Jevons. Your uncle might have gotten your sorry ass this far, but a jury of 12 will see things VERY differently after hearing all of the facts.

I was a fraternity brother of Aaron jevons in RPI. We were in Pi Kappa Phi together. He was the kid who always felt entitled to everything. He always thought the world owed him favors for whatever reason. I don’t know the other people in this blog so I cannot comment on them. However, I will say I know Aaron Jevons and his ability to use his uncle to get him out of big trouble for almost everything he did in college. First and foremost, Aaron Jevons is a lush and I do not fault him for that. You are suppose to do that in college. However, any time this guy touched a sip of alcohol, he was the toughest kid in the frat house. Many of times he got into trouble with the troy police due to bar fights, he called his uncle to bail him out of trouble. By the way, his uncle’s name is Jim Horton, a decorated retired state trooper who worked many cold cases and kind of became famous for his work with the serial killer (Evans)
before his sudden escape from a state transport van over the troy menands bridge. Aaron always bragged about being able to basically do whatever he wanted do to his relationship with Horton(Horton is Aaron’s mother, Christina, brother) Aaron also has i think 7 siblings and the ones I spent time with all carried the same attitude. His brother Joshua, was one of the most pretentious a holes I ever met. I felt it was my reponsibility to put something on this blog because this guy has hurt many of people and has been able to get out of almost everything unscathed. Aaron got arrested when he was 21 I believe in Maryland. If I remember correctly, he initially got charged with some sort of drug distribution because of the amount he had on him. I believe he had a felony charge, but Uncle Jimmy got him reduced to drug possession and possession of drug paraphenalia. In Oneonta when he was 23, he was in a (take a guess)… bar fight. He cracked a patron of the bar in the face and also was fighting with the bouncers. Uncle Jimmy makes the call and a third degree assault(misdemeanor) gets pled down to a disorderly conduct. This 25 year old man has never had to fear the law like the rest of the general public has to do. He has lived above the law because of his uncle Jimmy Horton. I feel bad that these gentleman’s families have to suffer through this pain that this dbag has put them through. This is a typical jevons move.